Category: News

NAIROBI, Kenya – In a dramatic move that shocked Kenya’s political establishment Tuesday evening, newly appointed IEBC Chairman Erastus Ethekon orchestrated the unceremonious exit of Chief Executive Officer Hussein Marjan, bringing down the curtain on more than a decade of service in the controversial 399 days before his contract was due to expire.

The bloodless coup at Anniversary Towers culminated in five commissioners being urgently recalled from a week-long workshop in Naivasha on Monday for a crisis meeting that sealed Marjan’s fate, with the executive’s future dissected in sessions held both in his presence and behind closed doors.

Sources privy to the boardroom drama revealed that Ethekon, barely seven months into his tenure as chairman, had been methodically building a case against Marjan since the commission was fully constituted last July, focusing on procurement decisions made when commissioners were absent and questions around the extension of the controversial Smartmatic contract.

The final act played out with surgical precision. When Marjan learned his days were numbered, he approached Ethekon seeking a dignified exit. The chairman obliged, offering a written confirmation that the departure would be by mutual consent. But in a twist that stunned the commission, Marjan returned on Friday at 5pm armed with legal counsel and a counter-proposal demanding full payment through March 2027 and compensation for unused leave.

That move proved fatal. Ethekon convened an emergency session on Monday afternoon with five commissioners, deliberately excluding Vice Chairperson Fahima Araphat Abdallah who was attending to private matters. The session, fully minuted, became the formal basis for terminating Marjan’s contract and marked the point of no return.

Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana was first to arrive at Tuesday’s concluding meeting that began at 3:30pm, followed by Commissioner Anne Nderitu and Professor Francis Aduol. By 5:36pm, the verdict was sealed. When Marjan appeared at reception around 6pm, he found media already gathered, tipped off about the seismic shift underway. His terse “Sorry, I’m not going to speak to the media” response betrayed the tension of a man whose career had just been demolished.

The catalyst for Marjan’s downfall was a perfect storm of opposition pressure and internal discontent. Opposition leaders led by Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka had spent weeks demanding his removal, accusing him of hastily renewing Smartmatic’s contract when the commission was not in office. The company, which supplied the Kenya Integrated Elections Management System kits for the 2022 polls, has been dogged by controversy across multiple countries.

“We cannot have free and fair elections with Marjan at the IEBC,” Kalonzo had thundered at a funeral in Machakos County in January. “When there was no commission in place, he moved very fast and renewed Smartmatic’s contract. When the new commissioners came in, they found that he had already renewed those contracts. It was an illegal act.”

DAP-Kenya leader Eugene Wamalwa went further, demanding not just Marjan’s exit but his prosecution for abuse of office. The opposition’s fury was amplified by explosive allegations from a former Venezuelan military intelligence chief linking Smartmatic to election manipulation in multiple countries.

But it was not just external pressure that sealed Marjan’s fate. Inside the commission, questions swirled around procurement decisions and an Auditor-General’s report that raised governance concerns. During one particularly brutal confrontation, a commissioner pointedly asked Marjan whether his continued stay was sustainable given that the entire commission had lost confidence in him.

The sticking point was the Smartmatic contract extension. Commissioners discovered that a two-year extension approved in 2024 to expire at the end of 2026 had been signed unilaterally by the CEO when commissioners were not in office. Under IEBC’s standard operating procedures, all purchases of strategic election materials including ballot papers, voter registration kits, and ballot boxes must receive commissioner approval.

When Marjan attempted in November 2025 to extend the framework agreement to allow purchase of new equipment, commissioners flatly rejected the move. That rejection, sources say, was the beginning of the end.

Marjan’s final hours at IEBC were a study in contrasts. On Monday, he reported for duty at 8am and left at 3pm. It remains unclear whether he attended the meeting that ratified his contract termination. By Tuesday evening, he was penning an emotional farewell to staff, thanking them for “over decade of invaluable experience in elections management.”

“As I move on, I do so wiser, enriched and deeply grateful,” Marjan wrote, his words carefully chosen to maintain the fiction of mutual consent even as the walls closed in around him.

The timing of Marjan’s exit, coming just 15 months before the 2027 General Election, has raised eyebrows about the wisdom of such upheaval at a critical moment. But Ethekon was unrepentant, framing the move as necessary for institutional reform.

“The changes are meant to enhance effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and accountability of the secretariat in service delivery to the people of Kenya,” the chairman declared in his statement, promising that the commission would embark on “critical reforms within the Secretariat.”

For Marjan, who joined IEBC as Deputy Commission Secretary in March 2015 and rose to become CEO in March 2022 after serving nearly five years in an acting capacity, the fall from grace has been swift and stunning. He shepherded the commission through the tumultuous 2022 General Election and held the fort when the electoral body operated without commissioners for months.

But in the cutthroat world of Kenya’s electoral politics, past service counts for little when new power arrives with its own vision. Ethekon, the 48-year-old Turkana native and former county attorney, had made clear during his vetting that he intended to restore integrity and public confidence in the commission.

His first major act as chairman has sent an unmistakable message: there is a new sheriff in town at Anniversary Towers, and he answers to no one but the Constitution and the Kenyan people. Whether this shake-up will indeed enhance the commission’s credibility or plunge it into fresh turmoil ahead of 2027 remains to be seen.

The commission has promised to announce an interim replacement “in due course” while the recruitment process for a substantive CEO begins. Marjan’s deputies, Ruth Kulundu and Obadiah Keitany, are scheduled to exit in March and May 2027 respectively, raising questions about whether they too might face the axe as Ethekon moves to put his stamp on the secretariat.

As Marjan clears his desk and contemplates his next move, one fact is inescapable: his tenure, which began with such promise and survived years of political turbulence, ended not with a bang but with a carefully worded statement about “mutual consent” that fooled no one who watched the drama unfold over those fateful 48 hours.

The real question now is whether Ethekon’s bold move will indeed deliver the credible, transparent electoral process he has promised or whether it has simply opened a new chapter of instability at Kenya’s most critical constitutional commission.

A Kenyan man who had been living and working in Qatar has been killed while fighting for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine, in yet another grim reminder of how foreign recruits are being sucked into a brutal war far from home.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence has identified the body of Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, a Kenyan citizen born in 1997, at a Russian position in the Donetsk region.

Mogesa is said to have travelled from Qatar to Russia, where he later signed a contract with the Russian armed forces and was assigned to an assault unit.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Mogesa underwent only brief training before being sent to the front line and killed during what was described as a “meat assault,” a term widely used to describe mass infantry attacks with little regard for casualties.

Even in death, Mogesa was reportedly abandoned. Russian forces did not evacuate his body from the battlefield, and his family has received neither compensation nor any official explanation from Russian authorities about how or where he died.

Disturbingly, Ukrainian intelligence says Mogesa was found carrying passports belonging to two other Kenyan citizens.

The documents are believed to belong to men recruited under similar circumstances and possibly earmarked for future deployment to the front lines.

The case adds to growing concerns about the recruitment of African nationals into the Russian military, often through opaque contracts, false promises of high pay or legal work, and minimal disclosure of the risks involved.

Kenyan nationals have previously surfaced among foreign fighters captured or killed in Ukraine, raising questions about how they are being recruited and whether they fully understand the consequences.

Ukrainian defence officials have warned foreign citizens against travelling to Russia or accepting work there, cautioning that migrants and recruits face a real risk of being forcibly deployed into combat units without adequate training or protection.

Mogesa’s death has reignited debate at home about the vulnerability of young Kenyans seeking opportunities abroad and the lack of safeguards once they fall into foreign military systems.

For his family, the tragedy is compounded by silence from Moscow and the reality that a son who left Africa in search of a better life in Qatar ended up dying alone in a frozen trench thousands of kilometres away.

The silence at Lang’ata Cemetery was deafening on Wednesday as nine small wooden coffins, one containing the body of a three-month-old infant, were lowered into mass graves in a haunting spectacle that has left Kenyans demanding answers about the mysterious deaths of 15 street children over the past month.

In scenes that would break the hardest of hearts, barefoot street families, the very people most Nairobians ignore at traffic lights, served as pallbearers.

They carried the small caskets of their own, tears streaming down their faces as they bid farewell to friends who had shared scraps of food and cardboard shelters with them on the capital’s harsh streets.

The burial, coordinated by city politician and philanthropist Agnes Kagure through her foundation, has exposed a disturbing pattern of deaths among Nairobi’s most vulnerable population, with the actual causes remaining largely unexplained despite bodies being collected from various city mortuaries.

Records from the Nairobi Funeral Home reveal a chilling timeline. Two children died suddenly on December 26, 2025, in Mlango Kubwa and Mathare. Another took their own life in Kariobangi on December 29. Two more succumbed to what officials vaguely termed “natural causes” on Christmas Day and Boxing Day from Pangani and Shauri Moyo.

But the circumstances surrounding these deaths have raised more questions than answers. The causes listed range from pneumonia and malnutrition to the euphemistic “mob justice,” a term that barely conceals the brutal violence street children face daily.

Among those mourning was Moses, who spoke quietly about his friend Enock. “I never imagined I would be burying him so soon,” Moses said, his voice breaking. “To survive on the streets as a street child, you can’t be sober. Enock was always intoxicated.”

The two had met at Mlango Kubwa along Juja Road, where fate had united them. Now, Moses was left with only memories of the good days they shared.

Then there was Mary Nyambura, who knew Munyiri as a good neighbor from their base around Pangani Girls’ High School. “We one day found him dead,” Nyambura said, her voice heavy with grief. “We think he was strangled to death.”

Peter Wanjiru, known as Chokora Msafi and coordinator of street families, painted a grim picture of life on Nairobi’s streets. “We’re not on the streets because we like it. It’s because of circumstances,” he said. “The cause of death for most is cold and hunger.”

The deaths reveal a darker truth about Kenya’s capital. While most of the deceased were between 18 and 35 years old, the presence of a three-month-old infant among them underscores the vulnerability of street families.

Agnes Kagure, who covered the burial costs and provided buses to transport the bodies and mourners, did not mince her words. “They die from malnutrition. Others are attacked by criminals at night. Others develop pneumonia because of sleeping on the streets,” she said.

Kagure challenged the county government to establish clear, humane systems for handling unclaimed bodies and supporting street families. “Hunger, illness, neglect and unexplained deaths are daily realities for street families,” she stated. “I call on the county leadership to wake up and activate coordinated healthcare, feeding programs, and rehabilitation initiatives.”

The businesswoman and gubernatorial hopeful criticized what she described as systemic failure by county leadership under Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration. “This situation persists because our county leadership has failed, and we have developed indifference as a society,” she said.

According to mortuary records, nine bodies were collected from the Nairobi Funeral Home, while others came from Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary. Six more bodies remained at the facilities awaiting postmortem examinations, adding to the mystery surrounding the deaths.

Pastor David Maina of PEFA Church, Lang’ata, who presided over the brief ceremony, offered the only comfort available. “From earth you came and earth you return,” he prayed as each small coffin was lowered six feet under.

The mass burial has sparked outrage on social media, with Kenyans questioning what led to the sudden spike in deaths among street children. Many have criticized the lack of official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

“These were lives that mattered. Children who deserved love, protection, and a future,” one social media user wrote. “May our leaders, institutions, and all of us as a society wake up and act, because silence and inaction are costing lives.”

The tragedy has also highlighted the broader crisis of street children in Kenya. According to the Consortium of Street Children, an international charity, Kenya has between 250,000 and 300,000 street children, with approximately 60,000 in Nairobi alone.

Research conducted in Eldoret between 2009 and 2016 on street-connected young people found that they carry a disproportionate burden of morbidities and engage in practices that heighten their risk of premature mortality. The study revealed that tuberculosis, injuries, and HIV/AIDS were among the leading causes of death.

For Nairobi’s street children, survival is a daily battle against hunger, cold, violence, and disease. Many turn to glue sniffing to numb the pain of their existence. Others fall victim to mob justice, criminal attacks, or simply succumb to the harsh conditions.

The nine coffins at Lang’ata Cemetery represent more than just statistics. They represent children who had names, dreams, and friendships. They represent a society’s failure to protect its most vulnerable.

As the red earth of Lang’ata covered the 15 coffins, traffic on Lang’ata Road roared on, oblivious. Nairobi had buried its shame, but the problem remains alive on the streets.

Tonight, another child will sleep in the cold. Tomorrow, another might not wake up. Unless urgent action is taken, another mass burial may soon be needed.

The question that haunts the city is simple yet profound: How many more children must die before Nairobi confronts this crisis?

Kagure’s foundation has promised to organize a county-wide medical camp for street families and continue pushing for systemic reforms. But for Moses, Nyambura, and the dozens of other street families who watched their friends being buried, the damage is already done.

“From earth you came and earth you return.” The pastor’s words echo across the cemetery, a reminder that in death, at least, these forgotten children finally found peace.

But for those who remain on Nairobi’s streets, the struggle continues. The mystery of why 15 of their own died in such a short span remains unsolved. The city’s indifference remains unchanged. And the next victim, statistically speaking, is already out there, invisible to most, fighting to survive one more day.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 30 – The family of veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga was surprised by his request to be buried within 72 hours of his death, his widow Mama Ida Odinga has revealed.

Speaking during a memorial event showcasing Raila Odinga memorabilia, Mama Ida said she had no prior knowledge of the short burial timeline, which is unusual in Kenyan funeral traditions.

“We didn’t expect Raila to die at this time. It came to us as a surprise, and with it came another surprise that he had asked to be buried within 72 hours. I don’t know when he wrote this message or whether he wrote it in Kenya or somewhere else,” she said.

The tight schedule forced the family to rush funeral preparations to ensure the request was honoured. Mama Ida expressed gratitude to President William Ruto for intervening and helping the family meet the timeline.

“For us to beat that time, we are most grateful to His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto, who stood in strongly to make sure that his will was honoured,” she said.

Reflecting on her 52-year marriage to Raila, Mama Ida described him as a devoted husband, father, and family patriarch.

“Living as Raila’s wife was great fun. We had our good times and bad times, but it was the best thing that happened to me,” she said.

She added that the family—including the late Fidel Odinga, Rosemary Odinga, Raila Junior, and Winnie Odinga—remains committed to carrying forward Raila’s legacy and fulfilling his vision for Kenya.

Mama Ida also thanked Kenyans and the international community for their messages of condolence, noting that mourners continue to visit the family homes in Nairobi and Bondo.

“We are still receiving visitors and messages, and our homes remain open,” she said.

In a related development, President William Ruto recently nominated Mama Ida Odinga as Kenya’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), pending parliamentary approval. If confirmed, she would play a central role in global environmental diplomacy, with UNEP headquarters located in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mama Ida is a veteran educator and civic leader with extensive experience in women’s empowerment, education advocacy, and social justice initiatives. She also has business experience, including involvement in East African Spectre, a liquefied gas cylinder manufacturing company.

She has been recognized with numerous awards, including Honorary Doctor of Letters degrees and Kenya’s highest civilian honour, Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart (EGH), for her service to the country and community.

Mama Ida Betty Odinga has officially accepted her nomination as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Canon Dr. Ida Odinga described her nomination to UNEP as an honour during a dedication ceremony at the Pefa Church, Thika Road, on Sunday, January 25, 2026.

“Thank you so much to those who have congratulated me for this new appointment. For me, it is an honour and I’m happy about it,” she said.

President William Ruto nominated Ida Odinga for the role under powers vested in the Head of State. The nomination has been transmitted to Parliament for consideration and approval.

The nomination now awaits parliamentary approval, which is required for all state appointments to the Foreign Service under the Constitution. If approved, Mama Ida Odinga will take up the role as Kenya seeks to advance sustainable development and environmental stewardship on the international stage.

If approved, she will replace Ababu Namwamba, who has been reassigned as Kenya’s Ambassador to Uganda.

The nomination comes amid President Ruto’s ongoing diplomatic reshuffle, which has seen several key appointments and transfers across Kenya’s missions abroad.

Mama Ida said she remains calm despite the heightened public attention following her nomination to the UNEP.

“These days, every time I switch on the TV, I see they are talking about me. I read the newspapers, and they are talking about me. But I don’t fear because God is with me. I encourage everyone that when you are in trouble, read Psalms 23, and things will be alright,” she said.

Mama Ida Odinga is a respected educationist, civic leader, and advocate for social justice and gender equity. She began her career as a graduate teacher at Highway Secondary School in Nairobi before moving to Kenya High School, where she spent over a decade shaping the minds of future leaders.

Her years in the classroom, according to the nomination statement, “nurtured a deep-rooted and enduring commitment to education.”

The nominee is widely recognised for her lifelong dedication to public service and advancing women’s empowerment. She was the lifelong companion of the late former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, C.G.H., who passed away on October 15, 2025.

“Her life’s work stands as a testament to the highest ideals of selfless service, defined by courage, sacrifice, grace under fire, and an unceasing commitment to advancing women’s education and empowerment,” the statement notes.

Mama Ida Odinga has a long history of activism. In the early 1990s, during Kenya’s transition from a single-party state to multiparty democracy, she played a key role in advancing calls for political reform. She served as the founding Chairperson of the League of Kenya Women Voters, a platform through which she advocated for democratic change and equality. Since then, she has continued to champion initiatives that improve the lives of women, children, youth, and vulnerable communities.

Beyond civic engagement, Mama Ida Odinga has contributed to the private sector, including leadership in family businesses such as East African Spectre, a liquefied gas cylinder manufacturing company.

Over the years, she has received numerous accolades in recognition of her work. She holds two Honorary Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) degrees and was conferred with Kenya’s highest civilian honour, the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart (E.G.H.), in 2018.

Other recognitions include the Trailblazer Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Human Achievers Foundation. Leaders congratulated Mama Ida on the nomination, describing her as a trailblazer who will transform the sector.

Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi has said he will not resume legal practice before the Supreme Court, despite the court lifting a two-year ban on him and his law firm.

He said his decision is rooted not in personal grievance but in what he described as deep ideological and institutional concerns about the country’s apex court.

The Supreme Court on Thursday vacated orders issued on January 23, 2024, which had barred the outspoken lawyer and his law firm from appearing before the court — a move he has consistently described as unconstitutional and unjustified.

While welcoming the lifting of the ban, Ahmednassir said the decision alone does not address the fundamental issues he raised against the court.

“My difference with the court has never been personal. It is principled, ideological and doctrinal,” he said, adding that those differences “remain unresolved.”

He accused the court of failing to acknowledge wrongdoing in imposing the ban and argued that the ruling did not commit the judges to any institutional reforms.

According to Ahmednassir, he cannot return to a court where “seven individuals can decide who practices before it, the constitution notwithstanding.”

He said the Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis arising from what he termed unresolved questions of integrity and competence — concerns he insists must be openly addressed to restore public confidence in the institution.

He also cited his self-declared crusade against what he calls “JurisPesa” — an alleged culture of corruption within the Judiciary.

“If I go back to practice before the Supreme Court, who will be left to fight JurisPesa in our courts?” he asked, saying he has chosen to remain outside the system in order to continue speaking freely against judicial vices.

Ahmednassir described his decision as a personal sacrifice made in the public interest, arguing that joining what he termed the legal profession’s “status quo” would weaken efforts to confront corruption within the courts.

He, however, welcomed the fact that his partners and associates are now free to practice before the Supreme Court following the lifting of the ban.

The senior counsel also thanked lawyers Paul Muite SC, Fred Ngatia SC and Dennis Mosota for initiating efforts that led to the lifting of the ban, praising their professionalism and commitment.

Ahmednassir said he remains ready to support judicial reforms, citing his experience as a former Law Society of Kenya chairperson and former Judicial Service Commission member.

“I am at her service, ready to help if and when she decides to reform the courts and fight JurisPESA judges,” he said.

Despite the court’s decision, Ahmednassir maintained that the lifting of the ban amounts to an “appeasement ploy” and insisted that meaningful reforms — not procedural relief — is the only path towards restoring the Supreme Court’s integrity and prestige.

Kenya is facing a potential health system collapse after the United States officially completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organisation on Thursday, a move that threatens to unravel decades of progress in fighting HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other killer diseases.

The exit, which comes after 78 years of American membership in the global health body, has sent shockwaves through the Ministry of Health as officials grapple with the reality of losing the single largest source of international health funding at a time when disease burdens remain stubbornly high.

America’s departure from WHO, combined with sweeping cuts to bilateral health programmes including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, represents what health experts are calling the greatest disruption to global health financing in living memory. For Kenya, the implications are nothing short of catastrophic.

The numbers tell a grim story. According to WHO records, the United States contributed a staggering 1.284 billion dollars, equivalent to 165.5 billion shillings, during the 2022 to 2023 funding cycle alone. This represented approximately 18 percent of the organisation’s total budget, making America the WHO’s financial backbone.

Dr Patrick Amoth, Director General for Health at the Ministry of Health, acknowledged the severity of the situation when he told Saturday Nation that the US departure represents a significant blow since America was the single largest contributor to WHO resources.

“It is a blow, but WHO has started the process of ensuring mitigation measures are in place by ensuring countries gradually increase their assessed contributions,” Dr Amoth said, though his words offered little comfort to health workers on the ground who are already seeing the effects of funding cuts.

The WHO had been supporting critical programmes in Kenya including reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, development of health products and technologies, non-communicable diseases, and communicable diseases. Their support, in Dr Amoth’s words, “has been broad.”

But the crisis extends far beyond WHO funding. The Trump administration’s simultaneous freeze on foreign aid programmes has effectively gutted PEPFAR, the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history. Since its inception in 2003, PEPFAR has invested over 100 billion dollars in the global HIV response, saving 25 million lives and preventing millions of infections.

Kenya, identified as one of PEPFAR’s priority countries, now faces the terrifying prospect of its HIV treatment programmes grinding to a halt. Modelling studies paint a nightmarish picture. Research published in leading medical journals estimates that funding disruptions could result in 565,000 new HIV infections over the next decade in sub-Saharan Africa alone, with Kenya accounting for a significant portion.

Even more disturbing, analysis of the 90-day PEPFAR funding freeze earlier this year found that 71 percent of implementing partners reported cancellation of at least one category of activities, while 50 percent slashed staff numbers. The freeze was associated with an estimated 159,000 adult deaths from HIV in sub-Saharan Africa during that brief period.

Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, Director of Programme Management at WHO, warned that programmes likely to be affected include HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, immunisation, and emergency preparedness and response.

“Losing out on funding will bring major disruptions to the services being provided to countries. It jeopardises progress made to date and can compromise the scaling up of interventions that would be impactful,” Diallo said at a press briefing on Friday.

The impact cascades beyond health into Kenya’s broader economy. With the original African Growth and Opportunity Act framework having expired in September 2025, Kenyan exporters are operating under a fragile one-year temporary extension. Washington’s exit from the International Trade Centre, a body critical for technical trade assistance, signals diminishing appetite for supporting African exports.

If preferential trade access lapses later this year, Kenya’s textile and apparel sector will face an existential crisis. Industry analysts warn that reverting to standard tariffs could push costs for Kenyan goods entering the United States up by as much as 20 percent, rendering them uncompetitive against Asian rivals.

Kenya’s green energy grid and climate adaptation projects face similar jeopardy. The US withdrawal undermines market confidence required for carbon credit instruments that Kenya has banked on to finance major infrastructure. Projects dependent on Green Climate Fund disbursements may now face indefinite delays, pointing to a sharp contraction in government tendering in the coming fiscal year.

The withdrawal from health-focused multilateral bodies also presents a quieter but potentially massive liability for Kenyan employers. The executive order targets the UN Population Fund, a key driver of maternal health and gender programmes. Coupled with funding freezes to agencies supporting WHO mandates, the move threatens to reverse hard-won public health gains.

As donor funding recedes, the burden of healthcare financing will inevitably shift to the Kenyan exchequer and the private sector. Business leaders should brace for higher insurance costs and a hit to workforce productivity. A resurgence of communicable diseases or weakening of maternal health support will directly affect labour force availability.

Despite the WHO having anticipated this possibility following the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation has been forced to slash 17 percent of its staff and implement dramatic efficiency measures. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described the US actions as “sowing chaos,” threatening to roll back decades of progress on infectious and neglected diseases.

The withdrawal’s timing could not be worse. Eight of 12 WHO health priority areas in Africa were already funded at less than 50 percent earlier this year. Twenty-seven percent of all US funding through WHO for the African region goes to polio eradication, while 20 percent supports improved access to quality essential health services. The balance funds pandemic preparedness and response, capabilities that proved critical during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Dr Amoth has advised countries, including Kenya, to invest more in primary health care services, prevention, and health promotion, noting that such services are comprehensive, integrated, and promote inclusivity.

“Investing in PHC yields more dividends compared to investment in curative services,” he said, though critics point out that scaling up primary health care requires exactly the kind of international support that is now evaporating.

The Ministry of Health is awaiting communication from WHO on which specific programmes will be affected. Once that information arrives, officials promise to put in place necessary mitigation measures to ensure programme continuity. However, with WHO membership dropping from 174 to 173 member states and the remaining countries struggling with their own economic challenges, prospects for covering the funding gap appear dim.

Health experts warn that early detection of disease threats, a priceless gift in terms of pandemic response, will be severely compromised. As one American epidemiologist put it, responding to a five-acre fire is vastly different from battling a 5,000-acre inferno. Unfortunately, Kenya may now find itself facing the latter scenario when the next disease outbreak strikes.

The question haunting health officials across Kenya tonight is simple yet devastating. Will the country’s health system survive the withdrawal of its most powerful ally, or will millions of Kenyans pay the ultimate price for decisions made thousands of kilometres away in Washington?

For now, hospitals continue operating, antiretroviral drugs remain available, and malaria vaccines are still being administered to infants at facilities like Lumumba Sub-County Hospital in Kisumu. But those on the frontlines know that the clock is ticking, and without urgent action, Kenya’s hard-won health gains could vanish like morning mist over Lake Victoria.

The Ministry of Health has promised to provide updates as the situation develops, but for families relying on donor-funded health services, the wait is agonising. The slow bleed has begun, and only time will tell whether Kenya can stanch the wound before it becomes fatal.

President William Ruto has nominated Canon Dr Ida Betty Odinga to serve as Kenya’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The nomination, made under the powers vested in the Head of State, has been transmitted to Parliament for consideration and approval.

Mama Ida Odinga is a respected educationist, civic leader, and advocate for social justice and gender equity. She began her career as a graduate teacher at Highway Secondary School in Nairobi before moving to Kenya High School, where she spent over a decade shaping the minds of future leaders.

Her years in the classroom, according to the nomination statement, “nurtured a deep-rooted and enduring commitment to education.”

The nominee is widely recognised for her lifelong dedication to public service and advancing women’s empowerment. She was the lifelong companion of the late former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, C.G.H., who passed away on October 15, 2025.

“Her life’s work stands as a testament to the highest ideals of selfless service, defined by courage, sacrifice, grace under fire, and an unceasing commitment to advancing women’s education and empowerment,” the statement notes.

Mama Ida Odinga has a long history of activism. In the early 1990s, during Kenya’s transition from a single-party state to multiparty democracy, she played a key role in advancing calls for political reform.

She served as the founding Chairperson of the League of Kenya Women Voters, a platform through which she advocated for democratic change and equality.

Since then, she has continued to champion initiatives that improve the lives of women, children, youth, and vulnerable communities.

Beyond civic engagement, Mama Ida Odinga has contributed to the private sector, including leadership in family businesses such as East African Spectre, a liquefied gas cylinder manufacturing company.

The enterprise has been credited with making significant contributions to Kenya’s energy sector.

Her leadership and influence are not limited to national issues. She is recognised internationally as a credible and articulate voice for Africa.

Over the years, she has received numerous accolades in recognition of her work.

She holds two Honorary Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) degrees and was conferred with Kenya’s highest civilian honour, the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart (E.G.H.), in 2018.

Other recognitions include the Trailblazer Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Human Achievers Foundation.

Analysts say her appointment is expected to strengthen Kenya’s engagement in global environmental diplomacy.

The role will allow the country to amplify its voice on environmental matters, particularly given Kenya’s position as host to the UN’s principal environmental authority.

“The appointment is expected to amplify Kenya’s voice on environmental issues and further reinforce the country’s longstanding leadership in environmental diplomacy,” the nomination document stated.

The nomination now awaits parliamentary approval, which is required for all State appointments to the Foreign Service under the Constitution.

If approved, Mama Ida Odinga will take up the role as Kenya seeks to advance sustainable development and environmental stewardship on the international stage.